Airshipment Away

Yesterday was a huge milestone in the process of moving overseas - the initial airshipment was packed and loaded.  We are given 1000lbs to airship in order to get some stuff in the flat to assist in living a normal life earlier in the process. The is a huge benefit, since the sea shipment can take as long as 6 weeks to arrive.  We have had a lot of angst over this shipment, since we had no idea how much 1000lb of our stuff really was.


Over the next two days, we went room to room organizing clothes and kitchen to ensure that we had prioritized all the right things to make our life easier upon returning to the subcontinent.  The trick is to pack all the essential items without handicapping yourself in the existing house for the next two weeks.  We moved clothes into specific airshipment designated closets and splayed out all the appropriate kitchen items on the dinning room table.  We checked and rechecked and prayed that we had not exceeded the allotted 1000lbs.


At 9:00am on the nose, the movers arrived.  We gave them the traditional tour of the items that would be packed.  There was a lot of writing and calculating until he looked up with a puzzled grin.  I re-walked him through the house until he was sure that he had rechecked everything.  "I think it is about 500lbs." he said, "just like the estimate."  500lbs!   Estimate - Smestimate!  I need 1000lbs of crap on that plane!  I asked if it would be OK just to keep packing until we reached the allotted weight.  He agreed, but said he needed more packing material and left to obtain more.  These guys were actually pretty cool!


The first guy continued to pack while the other guy went to get more material.  The guy was a packing machine.  He tore through the kitchen like Lindsey Lohan in a liquor store.  He did a great job of ensuring everything was packed properly, but at a lightning pace.  Clearly, not this guy's first rodeo.


Eventually, the other mover returned and we started the process of re-evaulating the house for more crap to pack.  We packed more dishes, more towels, more linens.  We packed the carpets, the winter clothes and pillows. It was like a scavenger hunt looking for treasures that would make our lives easier on the other end.  Finally, he called out that we had crossed north of 900lbs.  I was content that I was getting my money's worth and we called it a day.  


We signed a few papers, filled out the survey and the two guys left with our stuff.  As I stood on my stoop on that perfect 80 degree Minneapolis summer day, I thought to myself about the next time I would see my awesome toaster.   I pictured it on the counter in our new flat. My wife looking for the perfect place to put it as she lovingly begins to unpack. . . . and then my thoughts turned to me standing behind her desperately trying to get the air conditioner to cool the kitchen below 95 degree as sweat pours off my forehead.  I got a little depressed.